Archival Historiography in Jewish Antiquity

Abstract

Abstract If history is narrative, then Ezra-Nehemiah is only partly history. Well over half of Ezra-Nehemiah is not a narrative but rather a patchwork of cited texts that are frequently intervening in the story. The capacity of citations in Ezra-Nehemiah to offend the historiographical, aesthetic, and theological sensibilities of scholars invites the question of what citation accomplishes in this context. This book labels the citation style in Ezra-Nehemiah as “archival historiography.” It argues that the act of citation in Ezra-Nehemiah forms an alternative site of archiving and this hybrid literary form prioritizes the assembly and organization of documents over the production of a seamless narrative. The argument begins by comparing this literary form with archival institutions and practices across the landscape of the ancient Near East, contending that Ezra-Nehemiah adapts the symbolic power of these ancient collections. It then identifies the role of the imperial archive within the narrative of Ezra-Nehemiah, where it surfaces as an axial and ambivalent source of political power. By reviewing the cited documents in Ezra-Nehemiah, this book argues that the act of citation is not solely or even primarily in the business of authorizing this account or symbolizing the fulfillment of prophetic promises. Rather, citation in Ezra-Nehemiah is aimed at reestablishing a community by organizing memory into retrievable texts. Archival historiography thus constitutes an essential act of communal recovery and represents the cultural vitality of the Judean community after the losses of exile and while living in the long shadow of imperial rule.

Topics & Concepts